AR set to move into car user interfaces

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) automotive applications will redefine the driving and ownership experience, turning it into a safer, seamless, and intuitive activity, ABI Research has claimed.

Specifically, AR heads-up displays (HUDs) will allow advanced autonomous operation by ‘painting’ 3D navigation instructions onto road geometry, highlighting moving obstacles like crossing pedestrians, and enhancing driver awareness of and trust in autonomous operation. By 2025, more than 15 million AR HUDs will ship, with more than 11 million to be embedded solutions, ABI stated.

Car OEMs like Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, in cooperation with Microsoft HoloLens, are exploring VR automotive applications through virtual pre-sales experiences to boost online vehicle sales business models. Faraday Future is also using VR, but to design vehicles, saving costs in building prototypes and accelerating time to market.

Yet despite the advantages of both AR and VR technology, with automotive OEMs expecting AR applications to transform vehicle manufacturing and maintenance processes, AR HUDs run the risk of cognitive overload caused by displaying location-based advertising messages or any other type of secondary, infotainment information, warned ABI.

“It will be critical to use AR sparingly, in a minimalistic way, and only to display relevant, contextual information when needed to improve the driver’s perception of the road environment and reducing response times,” concluded Bonte.

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